As it’s been the holiday season we have spent a fair amount of time at home recently. I only updated her Montessori shelves a week and a half ago but given she has spent so much time in her playroom and I’ve been able to observe her a lot, I thought I would change them up a little bit.
Please excuse the dreadful photo quality – I took these photos by artificial light as I had a few minutes to write this post and didn’t want to waste the precious opportunity!
Currently on her work shelves:
A basket of family photos. I printed and laminated some photos of our family for her to look at. I thought she would enjoy these and also that it would mean she learns to recognise extended family members who she only sees every couple of weeks.
“Tissue box” of chiffon scarves. I love the Montessori idea that your child should work with beautiful objects, but sadly this is not a great beauty. I cobbled together a small cardboard box with some brown tape and tied together some chiffon scarves for her to pull out. When I showed it to her earlier today she didn’t seem very interested so I will enjoy watching her to see if she returns to it much. If she likes it I will try and make her a more beautiful version!
“Sea” theme basket. I added a blue chiffon scarf, Moby Dick babylit board book, sea turtle moving postcard, and a soft crab. She loves the turtle card so much already.
Shape puzzle. This simple second hand puzzle is great for Frida to practice her pincer grip as the knobs are quite small. She has enjoyed playing with this recently so I thought I would leave it on her shelves so she has constant access to it.
I have also left a couple of her favourite activities from the last set:
Basket of jars containing wooden beads / lentils / rice. Frida still enjoys taking these out of the basket, shaking them vigorously and generally moving and exploring them. I might keep these in here but change up the contents soon.
Wooden pop-up toy. Frida still hasn’t got the hang of making the little figures pop up, but this is a real favourite at the moment and she seems to find it a very pleasing object.
I really enjoy watching Frida engage with the items and objects on her shelves, seeing which ones bring her repeated joy and which ones don’t seem to spark delight. I also love looking a what other parents are putting out for their little ones – there is lots of inspiration out there! My absolute favourite Montessori blog is the hugely successful How We Montessori, a must read for every parent, not just those trying to follow Montessori principles. Although Kylie’s children are older than Frida, her blog is a phenomenal resource.
